It happens so often with Bible texts:
the events related and the scenes described there reflect much of… ourselves.
The way people act and react often depicts something of our own attitudes.

Today’s first reading is a good example of this (Exodus 17:3-17).
The people of Israel, having escaped from Egypt, are now travelling through the desert.
There is no water available at the place they have reached, and they are thirsty.
Being thirsty makes them angry!

They turn to Moses accusing him of being responsible for this situation.
Moses led them out of the country where they were slaves, but they do not credit this to him.
On the contrary, they quarrel with him “almost ready to stone him”.

But more still, they question… God’s presence in their midst.
He does not seem to care for their pressing need of water.
They test him saying:

“Is the Lord among us or not?”

When things do not turn out as we would like, do we throw the blame on others?
When some events happen that we cannot control, do we quarrel and accuse those around us?
When some situations exceed our power, do we attack even people who have helped us?

Would we be ready to question God’s ways with us?
Do we sometimes hold him responsible for our misfortune?
Could it be that we take our distances from him since his help is not coming as we would want it?
Are we ready to test him to see if he really cares?

The Scripture text mentions two words in a foreign language (Hebrew):
“Massah and Meribah”.
Massah means testing and Meribah means quarreling.

The next time we are tempted to quarrel with people and to test God,
we could silently repeat these words, a little like a mantra… ‘Massah… Meribah’…
and wait for God to provide for our need, as he did for his people in the desert.

He cannot fail to do so…

Note: In the following video Arlene Priti Mascargnhas personifies the Samaritan Woman who tells us about her meeting at the well of Jacob: https://youtu.be/jU09NpjS27w

Another text is available on a different theme, in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-du-careme-de-lannee-a-2023/

Source: Image: Making Him Known